Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Drugstore Dupes to the Test: Party Parrot Lipstick by Mac

Party Parrot is a limited edition Mac matte lipstick that has been well-coveted by neon-lovers everywhere. Although it is currently completely sold out online, I was lucky enough to be able to stroll into a Mac store and pick up a stick. Unfortunately, ruthless ebay and Amazon sellers have been charging exorbitant prices to capitalize on the low stock of this shade. So rather than paying $60 for a $14.50 lipstick, I recommend looking for a dupe. And isn't it all the better if that dupe is available at a drugstore?

Covergirl Lip Perfection in Fairytale vs. Mac Party Parrot

Packaging

Eeny, meeny, miney, moe.

Why it's a dupe: both colors are neon dark pink with a bit of coral and red to them. They are also both very opaque and pigmented. Slight differences: The Mac lipstick is a true matte, whereas the Covergirl lipstick has a bit of a sheen when it is first applied, although this sheen disappears within about half an hour of wear. The Covergirl lipstick is also just a hint more orange-y. It's not a perfect dupe, but, for a drugstore product, there are stunningly close.

Party Parrot is on the left, Fairytale is on the right.

Cost comparison: Fairytale is currently $5.94 on Amazon for 3.5g (so $1.69 per gram). Party Parrot costs $14.50 for 3g (so $4.83 per gram). This means that the Mac lipstick is almost three times as expensive as the Covergirl alternative.

Putting them to test:

I wore each of these lipsticks for 4 hours. For both colors, the four hours included one meal, some kisses from my boyfriend, mild physical activity and just general normal wear.

Covergirl Fairytale

Covergirl Fairytale when applied and after four hours.

Covergirl Fairytale Analysis: My lips definitely lost pigment across time, but it wore off fairly evenly, so at the end of the four hours my lips just looked like a less-intense version of their original color. This lipstick did fine when I ate and drank and seemed to wear off mostly with time, rather than wearing off based on how I used it.

Mac Party Parrot:

Mac Party Parrot when applied and after four hours.

Mac Party Parrot Analysis: The color wore off in a sort of patchy way, leaving parts of my lips way more pigmented than other parts. It was also very drying and I spent quite a bit of my time wishing I had a chapstick (the downside of a true matte finish!). It also did not handle eating and drinking particularly well. That being said, I think you might keep coloration pretty well if you didn't eat and were very careful with yourself... but where is the fun in that? Although it kept more pigment by the end of the four hours than the Covergirl lipstick did, it was a much more patchy and, consequentially, a less attractive look.

Verdict: Both of these lipsticks performed admirably. It you have your heart set on matte, the Covergirl lipstick has too much sheen to satisfy you. However, if you are simply inspired by the neon dark pink color of Party Parrot, Covergirl Fairytale fades more evenly, holds up better to food and drink, is less drying, and costs about a third of its higher-end counterpart. Victory Covergirl!

5 comments:

How did you find the Covergirl lipstick? By chance? Or did you do some research? I always looks to these types of posts because I'm so frightened to spend big money on a lipstick, especially on a color I wouldn't normally wear. I need to know the secrets of finding dupes! I think the Covergirl color looks great on you, btw!

I did a bit of research and identified potential dupes, then brought my Mac lipstick to the drugstore to make a more accurate comparison to ones I had found online. It's possible that there are better dupes out there and I missed them, though, since I didn't actually try any before buying this one.